News of the injury was first reported by “The MMA Show” with Mauro Ranallo, and MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has since confirmed the change with sources close to the promotion.

Fabiano is expected to remain on the card, though a replacement opponent has not yet been secured.

Featuring a lightweight title unification match between dual champs Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson, WEC 46 takes place Jan. 10 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif. The main card airs live on Versus.

After suffering a submission loss to Scott Jorgensen in his WEC debut – the lone loss of his nine-fight professional career – Gomez was seeking to build on a two-fight win streak. Gomez earned a unanimous-decision win over Seth Dikun at November’s WEC 44 event, as well as a submission win over Noah Thomas at June’s “WEC 41: Brown vs. Faber II.”

Six of Gomez’s eight career wins have come by stoppage. The three-time WEC veteran relies on a strong wrestling base built over a lifetime of competing in the sport that includes a brief stint at San Francisco State University, a Division II program.

While the exact nature of Gomez’s injury wasn’t revealed, MMAjunkie.com was told he is expected to return in the spring of 2010.

Meanwhile, the fight with Gomez was expected to be Fabiano’s first at 135 pounds. The drop also comes as Fabiano tries to rebound from a shocking and disappointing loss to Mackens Semerzier at WEC 43 in October.

Prior to the loss, Fabiano had carried an eight-fight win streak, including WEC wins over Fredson Paixao and Akitoshi Tamura. Prior to his current WEC run, the Brazilian held the now-defunct International Fight League’s featherweight title.

For complete coverage of WEC 46, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.